Fletcher hired as professor at UCSD

Nathan Fletcher, a former state assemblyman who ran for San Diego mayor last year, is taking his political knowledge to the classroom at UC San Diego in the newly created position of “professor of practice.”

Fletcher is the first person hired by the La Jolla university under the new designation. On Thursday, he began teaching an upper-division course about California government and politics with associate professor Thad Kousser. About 175 students are enrolled.

Creating a professor of practice post allows colleges to hire professionals who are leaders in their fields but don’t have the academic background typically required for a faculty appointment. Fletcher has a bachelor’s degree in political science from California Baptist University.

UC San Diego said his job is part time and pays about $22,400 a year, all of it from non-state funds. The appointment is scheduled to last through June 2015.

Fletcher will continue in his full-time role as senior director of corporate development at Qualcomm.

He said the university position stemmed from a conversation he had with Kousser six years ago about his strong desire to teach in college. He said he has lectured in classes at UC San Diego, California Baptist University and the University of Southern California, sharing his experiences as a legislator. After his unsuccessful mayoral bid, Fletcher said, he and Kousser talked again and Jeff Elman, dean of UC San Diego’s Division of Social Sciences, brought up the idea of him being named a professor of practice.

Kousser said students would benefit from Fletcher’s perspective.

“The advantage of having someone who for the last four years has been a major figure in California politics, who personally negotiated big deal after big deal with Gov. (Arnold) Schwarzenegger and Gov. (Jerry) Brown and who has run for office at both the state and local level, it is hard to capture how much more this will make the subject alive for students,” he said.

Suresh Subramani, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of California San Diego, said professors of practice will provide students a better understanding of the practical applications in a field of study.

“Professors of practice will bring great value to the university and students by extending the range of course and research offerings beyond that achievable by appointments in other series,” Subramani said in a statement.

Such non-tenure faculty positions have existed for awhile at some universities, including at Duke and Harvard. The University of San Diego has a similar arrangement: Last year, Derrick Cartwright, former director of the San Diego Museum of Art, was named director of university galleries and professor of practice there.

“We began using this title three or four years ago and have just a handful of professors who hold it,” USD Vice Provost Tom Herrington said in a statement. “It’s a commonly used title in the academic world for someone who has a significant amount of experience in the real world that qualifies them to teach a class or classes.”

A doctorate degree is not always required to be appointed as a regular faculty member. UC San Diego occasionally hires lecturers or adjunct professors, who typically have traditional academic backgrounds and are expected to publish in peer-reviewed publications, said Kristina Larsen, assistant vice chancellor of academic personnel.

She said the professor of practice concept was first discussed more than a decade ago at UC San Diego and was formally approved last July.

Fletcher will be “embedded” in the university on a long-term basis with more extensive roles, Kousser said. He will be at the school “week in and week out,” Kousser added, holding office hours. He will serve as a mentor to students who want to get into politics, helping connect them with internship and employment opportunities. He also will collaborate with faculty on public-policy projects.

“It’s not just me bringing in someone and saying, ‘Hey, you tell them about this’ (as a guest lecturer),” Kousser said. “He is working together with me and saying, ‘This is what students need to know for a career in San Diego government,’ so it is a much less superficial interaction.”

UC San Diego officials said Fletcher will develop courses related to his experience in areas such as local government, campaigns and elections, international democratization, military relations, counterterrorism and public policy.

Before joining the Marine Corps, Fletcher worked for nongovernmental organizations seeking to build and improve democracies around the world. While in the military, he served in Iraq, the Near East and the Horn of Africa. When Fletcher ran for San Diego mayor last year, he made national headlines when he quit the Republican Party after losing his bid for the GOP endorsement and announced he would run as an independent.